Radical Encounters: Islamists and leftists in the Middle East and North Africa (1960s-2010s)

Laura Guazzone · Rossana Tufaro

Jun 2026 · Sapienza Università Editrice

About this ebook

From the 1960s to the 2010s, the Middle East and North Africa were traversed by a dense web of radical encounters between Islamist and leftist movements, far more intricate than the familiar “Islam versus Marxism” clash evoked in much of the literature. Behind ideological antagonism and mutual campaigns of delegitimization, this volume uncovers tactical alliances, biographical conversions, and hybridizations of languages and symbols – from Shia processions shared by communists in Najaf and South Lebanon to antiwar and prodemocracy convergences in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Iraq. Drawing on case studies that move from the Maghreb to Iran and from universities to rural communities, the book develops an original typology of cooperation and conflict, restoring the historical depth of relations that have redrawn the boundary between the “secular” and the “religious” and continue to shape oppositional politics in the contemporary Middle East.

About the author

Laura Guazzone teaches Contemporary History of the Arab Countries in the Department of Oriental Studies at Sapienza University of Rome. Her research focuses on the modern political history of Arab North Africa and the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on political change and Islamist movements.

Rossana Tufaro is a MSCA Global Fellow at Sapienza University of Rome/American University of Beirut, specialized in the social history of Arab leftist and labor militancy in the long-1960s. With Prof. Guazzone, she co-designed the research project ILEMED, from which this volume originates.